Tuesday, October 6, 2009

As the mother of a baby girl, born just six days ago, Airoli homemaker Sujata Rane (name changed on request) is expected to have many a query about how to breastfeed her and how make her burp. Instead, the 31-year-old asked a doctor, "Can we use cellphone near her?"

It has become foremost for Rane to learn how not to let any appliance, at home or outside, having a electro-magnetic field around it, interfere with the pacemaker fitted to the the baby's abdominal wall, and the batteries attached to it. The yet-to-be-named infant was born with a complete congenital heart block on September 25. The very next day, she had a pacemaker implant, which the attending doctors say, will help her lead a normal life.

A routine sonography in the seventh month of Rane's pregnancy showed an anomaly in the foetal heartbeat. "The baby's heartbeat was just 40," she said. She was told by the attending doctor that the baby might need a paceaker immediately after its birth.

"Ideally, a newborn baby's pulse rate should be 110. A low heart rate means less blood is going to the body. Over a period of time, the baby could develop congestive heart failure," said Dr Suresh Joshi, chief paediatric cardiac surgeon, Wockhardt Hospital, Mulund, who performed the two-hour surgery on the baby that cost the family about Rs2 lakh. Complete congenital heart block is a rare condition, affecting one in over one lakh newborns, he added.

"I was aware of the baby's heart condition. So, I chose to undergo an elective Caesarean at MGM Hospital, Vashi, in order to get the baby's heart attended to at the earliest," said Rane.

Dr Joshi said, "Unfortunately, very few seem to know that a simple sonography in the second trimester of pregnancy is the tool that can easily detect any such problem and enable parents to ensure that the baby gets timely help as soon as it is delivered."

Every month, Dr Joshi sees 30-odd children with heart problems -- 70% of them neonates. "About three years ago, I used to get about seven cases a month. Thankfully, the awareness is increasing," he said.